July 23, 2013: The Northeast and Midwest Regions of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy received almost $290,000 to protect 130 acres of important habitat for migrating birds in the Lake Erie watershed of northwestern Pennsylvania.

The grant was the largest of more than $700,000 awarded to four recipients of the 2013 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative/Joint Venture Habitat Restoration and Protection grants.

The Pennsylvania project will permanently protect and prevent fragmentation of important breeding, roosting and migration stopover habitat for coastal-dependent and migratory birds in Erie County.

“Most of the annual mortality of land birds occurs each year during the spring and fall migration, so resting habitat along migratory routes is an important conservation issue,” said Northeast Regional Director Wendi Weber. “These grants will conserve natural forests, shrublands and wetlands along the Great Lakes that are critical for millions of migrating birds.”